Business Letters and Personal Business Letters

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Business Letters and Personal Business Letters

• Take notes and perform suggested activities
  ____/20 (approximately two pages)
• Quiz pending ____/10

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Business Letter Scoring

• ____ Appearance Format
• Inviting to the eye
• Balanced on the page
• Proper business letter format
• ____ Wording
• Keep sentences brief
• Avoid trite expressions
• Trim excess wordiness
• ____ Positive/Polite Tone
• Positive perspective
• You-centered
• Polite words w/o being gushy

• ____ Organization
• (Typically three paragraphs)
• Ideas well organized
• State clearly your purpose
• Request the desired action
• ____ Opening/Closing
• Start right in
• Answer without rehashing
• Express your appreciation
• ____ Proofread for
• Sentence structure errors
• Punctuation errors
• Spelling correct diction

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Appearance Format

• Take a look at your letter before submitting.
• Centered vertically adjust margins based on
  length of letter.
• Learn the various letter styles and use them
  properly.

• Inviting to the eye
• Balanced on the page
• Proper business letter format

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OVERVIEW Types of letters

• The BUSINESS LETTER is a formal letter used for
  business purposes and is recognized by the
  company letterheadcompany name and
  addressprinted at the top of the stationery.

Introspection
Compassion
Initiative Loyalty
Moorpark Business Academy
Courtesy Ethics 4500
Tierra Rejada
Responsibility Ingenuity
Moorpark, CA 93021
Integrity April 2, 2004 Mrs. Lisa
Holloman Countrywide Home Loans 400 Countrywide
Way Simi Valley, CA 93065 Dear Mrs.
Holloman On behalf of the Moorpark Business
Academy at Moorpark High School we would like to
thank you for your time and dedication. Thank
you for taking time out of your day to assist us
with information about your company and job
interview skills. We all greatly appreciated
what you and your fellow associates did for us.
The information that was given to us was very
useful. Some of the students in the academy did
not know anything about your company knowing
that there are so many great opportunities
available to the graduates here at the high
school provides a sense of guidance in the
future. Thanks, too, for the job interview tips.
These were very helpful. With your help we were
able to get a mild taste of what the real world
of business is really like. Thank you for that
opportunity. Sincerely, Keeley Nash Moorpark
Business Academy
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September 14, 20 date 4 enters Ms.
Alexandria Holt McLean Consultants, Ltd.
inside address 503 Ashbourne Drive Baton Rouge,
LA 90815 Dear Ms. Holt
salutation Ms. Georgia Harris, Placement
Director at Monroe Community College, told me
of the opening in your company for a word
processing operator. I would like to apply for
that position. As indicated on the enclosed
resume, I am May I have an opportunity to
discuss my qualifications with you. You may
telephone me at 318-985-1770 or email me at
jmontgomery_at_verizon.net. Yours truly,
complimentary close 4
enters  Mr. John Montgomery 302 Lake Shore Drive
originators name and address Lake
Charles, LA 70601

• The PERSONAL BUSINESS LETTER is from a person
  instead of a company therefore, it will have the
  personal address at the top or bottom of the
  letter.

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Letter Styles

• Also, there are two common letter styles
  Modified Block Style which has the date and
  complimentary close starting at center or the
  Block Style which lines up everything at the left
  margin.

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Wording

• Keep sentences brief
• Avoid trite expressions
• Trim excess wordiness

• Busy professionals appreciate letters that are
  short and sweet.
• Complete the Write as You talk worksheet and
• Dont be a Word Rambler!

WORD GRAVEYARD Please be advised Permit
me to say Enclosed please find At your
earliest convenience Trusting this meets with
your satisfaction This letter is for the purpose
of This will acknowledge receipt of Sending
under separate cover The above mentioned
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Positive/Polite Tone

• Turn Your Lemons into Lemonade (next page)
• Everyone likes to hear positive feedback.
• Build goodwill

• Positive perspective
• You-centered
• Polite words w/o being gushy

WEAK We received your inquiry of June 10 in
which you inquired about these
charges. IMPROVED Thank you for your letter
inquiring about these charges. BETTER It is a
pleasure to explain these charges.
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Turning Lemons into LemonadeRewrite these into a
more positive tone
ORIGINAL
IMPROVED

• So we can approve this, may we have your
  signature?
• May we have some additional information, and we
  will be happy to make the requested change.
• We will have this in the color you requested in
  about 30 days. Meanwhile, could you use this in
  brown or blue?

• Before we can approve this, we will need your
  signature.
• Unfortunately, your letter does not give
  sufficient information for us to make the change
  you requested.
• The color you requested is not available at the
  present time.

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ORIGINAL
IMPROVED

• In spite of material shortages, we will ship by
  November 12.
• As much as we would like to help you, this is not
  covered in the contract. Possibly we can be of
  more assistance at another time.

• Because of shortage of material we will not be
  able to ship before November 12.
• We are sorry, but we cannot help you with this as
  it is not covered in the contract. We regret we
  could not be of assistance.

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Organization (Typically three paragraphs)

• Begin with a greeting and statement of purpose.
• State details of request
• Close with thanks and request for action.

• Ideas well organized
• State clearly your purpose
• Request the desired action

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Opening/Closing

• Start right in
• Answer without rehashing
• Express your appreciation

• Dont rehash
• or repeat whats
• been said.

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Proofread for

• Sentence structure errors
• Punctuation errors
• Spelling correct diction

• A mailable letter is a perfect letter.
• Take pride in perfection.
• Letters and emails are a reflection on you and
  the care that you take in your work.

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Writing Business LettersBy Alice Feathers, M.A.
TESOL, Professional Editor and Writer

• 1. What's your point? State it clearly and
  concisely A good business letter does not ramble
  on it supplies all pertinent information in a
  clear and concise manner.
• 2. State your purpose in the opening sentence
  Many professionals skim their mail quickly.
• 3. Use a formal tone Remember that the tone of a
  business letter should be formal, not
  conversational English.
•   4. Correct spelling and grammatical errors
  Readers and skimmers notice spelling and
  grammatical mistakes, so spell- and grammar-check
  your document.
• 5. Reread your letter closely out loud You may
  be surprised at the number of simple mistakes you
  will find.
• 6. Get a second opinion If you have a competent
  friend who is willing to help you, have him or
  her read the letter.

Read this review!
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QUIZ Study and Know Proper Formatting and Letter
Parts (their names and placement)

• Return address for personal business letters
  (your address). 1600 Main Street Springfield,
  Kansas 12345
• Include only the street address, city and zip
  code. Do not write the your name or title, as it
  is included in the letter's closing. Placement
  options are at the top of the letter or directly
  after the closing signature.
• 2. The date of the letter. (Write out the month,
  day and year) December 1, 2008
• 3. Inside Address Complete name, title, and
  address of recipient. Use "Mr." for a male
  recipient. If you do not know how a female
  recipient prefers to be addressed, it is best to
  use "Ms."
• Ms. Anna Brown, Chair Department of
  Linguistics Right State University 1415
  University Drive Felicity, OH 45434

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Business Letter Parts Contd

• 4. Salutation with a colon. Dear Ms. Brown
• Leave one line blank after the salutation.
• If you don't know a reader's gender, use a
  nonsexist salutation, such as
• To Whom It May Concern
• It is also acceptable to use the full name in a
  salutation if you cannot determine gender. For
  example, you might write
• Dear Chris Harmon

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Business Letter Parts Contd

• Body
• For block and modified block formats, single
  space and left justify each paragraph within the
  body of the letter. Leave a blank line between
  each paragraph
• In the first paragraph, consider a friendly
  opening and then a statement of the main point.
• The next paragraph should begin justifying the
  importance of the main point with background
  information and supporting details.
• The closing paragraph should restate the purpose
  of the letter and, in some cases, request some
  type of action.

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• Complementary Close
• The closing begins at the same horizontal point
  as your date and one line after the last body
  paragraph.
• Capitalize the first word only (for example
  Thank you) and leave four lines between the
  closing and the sender's name for a signature. If
  a colon follows the salutation, a comma should
  follow the closing.
• Enclosures
• If you have enclosed any documents along with the
  letter, such as a resume, simply type
  Enclosures one line below the closing
• Typist initials (business letters)
• Typist initials are used to indicate the person
  who typed the letter. If you typed the letter
  yourself, omit the typist initials.

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Block, Modified Block, and Font

• Block Format
• The most common layout of a business letter is
  known as block format. Using this format, the
  entire letter is left justified and single spaced
  except for a double space between paragraphs.
• Modified Block
• Another widely utilized format is known as
  modified block format. In this type, the body of
  the letter is left justified and single-spaced.
  However, for the date and closing, tab to the
  center point and begin to type.
• Semi-Block
• The final, and least used, style is semi-block.
  It is much like the modified block style except
  that each paragraph is indented instead of left
  justified.
• Font
• Another important factor in the readability of a
  letter is the font. The generally accepted font
  is Times New Roman, size 12, although other fonts
  such as Arial may be used. When choosing a font,
  always consider your audience. If you are writing
  to a conservative company, you may want to use
  Times New Roman. However, if you are writing to a
  more liberal company, you have a little more
  freedom when choosing fonts.
• Punctuation
• mixed punctuation
• after the salutation use a colon ()
• after the closing use a comma.
• open punctuation
• This less common format omits the punctuation
  after the salutation and the closing.

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5. Body of the letter.It is best to keep an
initial business letter short. Business people
are busy and do not have time to read long
letters! In a one-page letter, you will usually
only need three paragraphs, single spaced. Use a
double space in between paragraphs. See examples
that follow. 6. Closing. The most common closing
is "Sincerely yours." Notice the second word is
not capitalized. Follow this with a comma. Skip
four single lines after the closing and type your
name. Sign your name in the space above your
typed name. Sincerely yours,
Jonathan Wilson 7. Enclosure.If you are
enclosing additional information with your letter
such as a resume, skip two single lines after
your typed name and type "Enclosure" or
"Enclosures." If you use the plural, you have the
option of stating the number of enclosures in
parentheses. Enclosures (2)
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Sample Block Style Letter

• March 16, 2001
• Ernie English1234
• Writing Lab Lane
• Write City, IN 12345
• Dear Mr. English
• The first paragraph of a typical business letter
  is used to state the main point of the letter.
  Begin with a friendly opening then, transition
  into the purpose of your letter saving details.
• Beginning with the second paragraph, state the
  supporting details to justify your purpose. These
  may take the form of background information,
  statistics or first-hand accounts. A few short
  paragraphs within the body of the letter should
  be enough to support your reasoning.
• Finally, in the closing paragraph, briefly
  restate your purpose and why it is important. If
  the purpose of your letter is employment related,
  consider ending your letter with your contact
  information. However, if the purpose is
  informational, think about closing with gratitude
  for the reader's time.
• Sincerely,
• Lucy Letter123 Winner's RoadNew Employee Town,
  PA 12345

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Modified Block Format

• (Tab to center, begin typing) March 16, 2001
• Ernie English1234 Writing Lab LaneWrite City,
  IN 12345
• Dear Mr. English
• The first paragraph of a typical business letter
  is used to state the main point of the letter.
  Begin with a friendly opening then quickly
  transition into the purpose of your letter. Use a
  couple of sentences to explain the purpose, but
  do not go in to detail until the next paragraph.
• Beginning with the second paragraph, state the
  supporting details to justify your purpose. These
  may take the form of background information,
  statistics or first-hand accounts. A few short
  paragraphs within the body of the letter should
  be enough to support your reasoning.
• Finally, in the closing paragraph, briefly
  restate your purpose and why it is important. If
  the purpose of your letter is employment related,
  consider ending your letter with your contact
  information. However, if the purpose is
  informational, think about closing with gratitude
  for the reader's time.
• (Tab to center, begin typing) Sincerely,
• (Tab to center, begin typing) Lucy Letter

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Sample Memo
NOTE With the advent of the Internet,
interoffice memorandums arent used as commonly
as they used to be however, they are still used
when managers want to document verification and
written record of any action taken.

• Moorpark Business
  Academy Memo
• Date May, 29, 2009
• To Tech Staff
• From G. Brandenburg gb
• Subject New Technology Presentation, Thursday,
  June 4
• This months staff improvement meeting will
  feature Dr. G. F. Gillis, a professor at City
  Technical College. His timely presentation will
  address the new software.
• Please sign up with me before the end of the day
  on Tuesday.

NOTE No closing or signature is used instead,
just initial next to the sender.
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Check out these linksPeruse the samples play
two games and note what you learned in your
notes.

• Sample Letters
• http//www.letter-samples.com/
• Matching Game to test your knowledge
• http//www.quia.com/mc/1054026.html
• Flash Cards
• http//www.quia.com/jfc/1054026.html
• Concentration
• http//www.quia.com/cc/1054026.html

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In case youre wondering

• This PowerPoint is also available on my webpage
  if you want to review any portions at any time.
  (school website departments/English/Mrs. B./MBA)
• All letters and work samples included in the
  final portfolio should be typed, revised, and
  corrected.
• Rubric on the next page is a guideline showing
  expectations of mailable letters.

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Complaint Letter Scoring Rubric
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Quiz time( one through ten)

• 6.
• 7.
• 8.
• 9.
• 10.